Kai, Nezu and Snipe wake their way to training ground Gamma, A complex web of pipes and buildings, the perfect place to test out the Kanga Kanga fruit and the Walk Walk Fruit.
When they arrive, they see Ectoplasm Clones sparring in the Kangaroo form, and what seems to be the real Ectoplasm watching intently as they duel, launching themselves from pipes at insanely high speeds. They look like ghostly pinballs, with some of them disintegrating into white goop when another one flashes past.
"Well it seems like you're getting a handle on your Devil Fruit, Ectoplasm." Nezu says, climbing down from his perch on Kai's shoulder.
"This is amazing." The real Ectoplasm breathes out. "This speed and power… I never thought I'd feel anything like it. Ever. Wielding the strength and speed of the Kangaroo… it's exhilarating."
Nezu chuckles lightly. "I'm glad you're enjoying it so much. Pretty soon you'll get a grip on your new abilities, and you can go back out there and do your heroics thing again. As for now, we have some more training to do on your Fruit. Have you tried out the complete Kangaroo form yet?"
Ectoplasm sheepishly rubs his hand over the back of his head. "Honestly, I've been afraid. I can feel the switch in the back of my mind, but I haven't flipped it because I fear that if I do, I won't have my Human rationality. Does that make sense? I'm afraid I'll become a real animal."
Kai speaks up, an understanding smile tugging at his lips. "I understand, Ecto. I really do. However, I guarantee that you will be fine. If it makes you feel better, can you transform one of your clones first? That way you don't risk your main consciousness."
Ectoplasm lights up, and if he had lips he'd be grinning. "That's a great idea Kai. I wonder why I hadn't thought of that. With that, all of the clones stop bouncing around and one of them walks over to the group.
As the clone approaches, it begins to shift. The exosuit peels away, revealing the grayish-brown fur of a full-fledged kangaroo. The transformation is slow but fluid—first, the clone hunches down, becoming almost quadrupedal. The tail extends and thickens, pressing against the ground to support the shifting form. The thighs grow even bulkier, the lower body inflating with newfound strength. The face elongates, flattening out into a full kangaroo head. Finally, the arms shorten, transforming into powerful paws.
When the transformation is complete, standing before the group is not a clone at all, but a full, regular kangaroo—agile, strong, and incredibly imposing.
The kangaroo speaks, its voice oddly clear despite the transformation. "Well, I can feel my instincts much more clearly, but I've still got all my rationale. I'm not sure why I'd ever choose this form over the hybrid one, though."
"I wouldn't be so sure, partner," Snipe interjects. "Kangaroos are dangerous creatures, and you said you could feel your instincts more sharply now. Why not have a hybrid clone spar against a full clone? You might be surprised."
Ectoplasm nods thoughtfully. "Alright, I'll give it a try."
With that, the full clone and one of the hybrid clones head over to the labyrinth, taking their positions across from each other. The remaining clones back away, forming a ring around the two, eager to witness the upcoming spar.
"Right. On my mark, Y'all varmints are gonna fight to the death. No holds barred, no moves illegal. On the shot, fight." At that, Snipe fired his revolver into the air.
Instantly the Roo Clone was on top of the other one, it's powerful legs and solid tail helping it cross the distance rapidly. The Hybrid was left on the back foot, having reacted slower to the shot. The Roo Clone slashed his claws directly at the Hybrids throat and he barely managed to dodge and kicked at the Roo to make space.
Contrary to the Hybrid's expectations, the Roo tanked the shot and dropkicked the Hybrid, his tail supporting him mid-air. The Hybrid hunched over, the air knocked out of his lungs, and the Roo took his chance and kicked him in the head, disintegrating the Hybrid into white goop.
After a solid ten seconds, Ectoplasm simply said "Point taken."
"Darn right."
Nezu spoke up. "Well, that was interesting. Would you like to go next, Snipe?"
"Shoot, might as well." With that, Snipe stood still, holding his head down, concentrating. Slowly, a light blue energy lit up on his feet, and he started walking forward, leaving spectral footprints in his wake. Suddenly, he stepped up onto northing, the light seemingly suspending him in midair. He continued climbing an invisible staircase until he reached one of the pipes the Hybrids were bouncing around on and stepped on top of it.
As soon as he stopped moving the light blinked off and the footsteps disappeared.
"Well that was a right hoot." He said from atop the pipe. "How'd ya figure I'm getting down?"
Kai spoke up. "Well, you should be able to just walk down, right? Try walking around the pipe, upside down. Don't worry about falling, a Clone will catch you."
Snipe then lit his feet again, took a deep breath, and walked off the pipe. To his shock, he didn't rapidly plummet towards the ground, but was standing on the side of the pipe like gravity didn't exist. He continued walking forward, getting more and more assured, until he had wrapped entirely around the pipe and was standing on its side once again.
This time, he stepped forward intending to walk towards the ground, and found himself standing in midair again, this time perpendicular to the ground. He walked forward until he was laying on the ground, but he felt like he was pressed against a wall. He backed up a bit, solidly planted one of his boots on the concrete, and righted himself back on the ground.
He let the energy fade. "Well that was real strange. I was not expecting that."
Kai breathed. "That was so cool. You just blatantly ignored every single law of gravity. And those spectral footprints? Awesome. Two more tests. One to test pathfinding, the other to see if someone else can 'follow in your footsteps.' Let's do the latter first."
"Sure." Snipe then lit up and took one step up off the ground and walked in a straight line.
Kai followed, carefully placing his foot on the footprint in midair and was delighted to find it was solid. He pressed off the ground onto it and was left hovering in midair. He placed his foot on one print after another, feeling himself almost magnetized to the path set before him. He then willed himself off the path and felt the pull to the trail cease.
"Got it, your path is accessible to anyone following you, and it ensures that they don't fall off. That is going to be very useful for evacuations. It's a shame the path disintegrates when you stop walking, but as long as you keep moving it will stay. Time to test pathfinding."
Nezu smiled at his Apprentice, delighted that he'd taken charge so quickly. Kai remained none the wiser on his mentor's thoughts.
"Alright. Focus on making it to the opposite side of Ground Gamma utilizing all of your abilities." Kai said, excitement littering his features.
"Right. I see a path, like dark blue footsteps. They're leading me forward and over some pipes, having me step on the air most of the time. There are even some points I can see where it says walking upside-down is most optimal.
"Great. Now focus on getting to the other side just walking on surfaces, not on air."
"The path shifted, none of the steps are on solid air anymore."
Kai started giggling. "Oh man that's so cool. You can even add custom commands to the pathfinding. I really thought the walk fruit was useless but I was dead wrong. This thing is awesome."
Nezu then piped up. "Alright! We're onto our last fruit showcase today! Since you aren't aware, Ectoplasm, earlier Kai gifted me a Devil Fruit of my own, the Human Human Fruit. First, I am going to test the Hybrid Form."
At that, Nezu started vibrating, becoming taller. He grew to 4 feet tall, and somehow his suit grew with him. His fur receded on his face, and a distinctly humanoid look painted his features. His paws grew longer, becoming fingers, but still tipped with claws. He maintained his furry ears, though, and he still had the rat tail. Ultimately, he looked like a human child with a rat quirk.
"Interesting." He spoke. "I seem to have gotten taller, and I would guess my combat capabilities have improved. My Quirk, High Specs, also seems to have gotten stronger, and I can analyze more than I once could. The downside is that my senses have gotten worse, my sense of hearing has roughly halved, as well as my sense of smell. Ectoplasm, may I spar with one of your Clones? A base form, preferably."
Ectoplasm is sweating bullets. "Are you sure, sir? You could already take quite a few of my clones beforehand, I can't imagine you have gotten better at fighting."
"Oh, I'm quite sure, Ectoplasm. Please give me two or three so I can test my new form."
What followed next was extraordinarily brutal.
Ectoplasm called over three clones and they joined Nezu in the fighting ring. Nezu faced down the clones two feet taller than him, and the clones were still the ones that seemed nervous. As soon as Snipe's starting pistol went off, Nezu was on top of the center clone, and nearly a second later it was a pile of goop.
Nezu darted after the second clone, and you could hear the clone scream in terror as the rat-child closed in. It tried a quick kick at the rat, but Nezu dodged and flicked his claws, ripping out the clone's Achilles tendon. The clone collapsed on the ground in pain, and Nezu simply walked up and jammed his claw into its chest.
The child sized demon turned around and glared at the last Clone, still covered in white goo. The clone wisely decided to surrender, preserving its life for a short while.
Nezu chuckled. "Well that was fun. This new form is so strong. I haven't had that much fun in a long time."
Kai laughed nervously. "That was fucking terrifying. You just dismantled what is equivalent to three grown men."
Nezu smiled bitterly. "Yeah, I did. I must be getting rusty. In my heyday…' The demon child sighed. "Oh well, time to test the full human form."
As Nezu said that he started shaking again, getting even taller, capping out at around six feet. All the fur remaining on his body receded, leaving a pale skin tone underneath. His ears shrunk into his head and human ears popped out on the sides, and his white fur atop his head shifted into neatly trimmed white hair.
When the transformation was over, they were looking at a relatively handsome young man seemingly in his mid-twenties, with a scar marring his right eye.
"Ooh this is fun." Nezu said. "My intelligence has nearly doubled, but all my animal features are missing. No claws, no enhanced sense, none of it. Time to test out this new body."
With that Nezu started doing some sprints, seemingly unused to such long legs. Evidently, though, he was a fast learner, and he was getting very good at it. After getting the hand of his new mobility he made his way back to the group.
"Well with that, everyone has gotten a grip on their fruit's basics. Anyone have a question?" Nezu asked, clearly very happy to be human.
Suddenly, Kai found a solution to a problem that he's been worrying about.
"Well this was nice and all, but I think you should practice your abilities in a more diverse area. Is there anywhere on campus we can try out different terrains and conditions?"
Nezu considered. "Well, There is the USJ, but it isn't open after school hours, and we've almost burnt the entire day."
Kai was excited his plan was working but he needed to push more.
"What's the USJ?" Kai asked.
"It's the Unforeseen Simulation Joint, where we train our heroics students in rescue simulation, and sometimes our support students test out their gear there." Ectoplasm said. "Going there is a good idea, there's more interactive things we can do to train, but we can't today. No time."
Kai let some of his excitement shine through. "Well then can we tomorrow? What's that looking like?"
Nezu considered. "Class 1A is scheduled to go there for an introduction to Heroics, but as long as we stay out of their way, I don't see any issue with tagging along."
Kai then laughed and said "Then it's a plan! We'll join class 1A at the USJ tomorrow to test out our Devil Fruits." Kai added a second later "And I do mean 'our'. I want to see what I can make on the spot with stuff lying around."
Nezu relented. "Alright then. Ectoplasm, Snipe, I'll have your classes tomorrow covered by someone else. We're going to practice at the USJ tomorrow."
[Ding!]
[New Quest Available]
'Party in the USJ'